RP:The Butcher and the Lizard - a bargain to their lycan
Background
The Butcher of Cenril finds a new supplier for rare meats.
A chance meeting an' a bit o' haggling
Valentin tromps into the tavern, the man touching the rim of his bowler in silent greeting to any patrons who may happen to glance in the burly butcher's direction.
Mihael whispered something to Ehli.
Ehli blushes and lightly nods, leaning closer to whisper again.
Ehli whispered something to Mihael.
Mihael leans back a little, takes a puff of his pipe then leans forward again.
Mihael whispered something to Ehli.
Valentin clomps over to the message board to take a butcher's at whatever new bollocks had threatened to conceal his own advertisement.
Zaxx is hard to miss as he trudges in with a high step through that scorched hole in the southern wall of Kelay Tavern rather than the front door. His thick and towering frame of over 7 feet casts a long, flickering shadow as he passes underneath that slightly swinging candelabra in the room's center. The grey skin exposed from his wrists down and about his neck along with an angled jaw the only real hints of exactly what he was, aside from his scent, as the rest of him is concealed beneath a tattered, weather-worn traveling cloak. A bulging burlap sack which is carried over his shoulder is slung down to the floor next to an empty table, leaking water from the rain outside along with a thicker, oily liquid which is as of yet unidentifiable. Grey eyes make a quick once over of the room and it's occupants as the Preklek seats himself heavily on a creaking chair and busies himself with extracting a small assortment of items from a small leather satchel tied about his hip. A simple pipe, a shiny bag fashioned from some strange creature's gall bladder which contains a mixture of tobacco and other herbs, along with a crude lighter that must be struck manually from a striker. He waits patiently for the barmaid to make her way over, flipping over the flap of his tobacco pouch and pushing a large pinch of the fragrant mixture into his pipe.
Ehli whispered something to Mihael.
Mihael whispered something to Ehli.
Ehli whispered something to Mihael.
Valentin scratches at a shaggy muttonchop as he casts his gaze over the various messages on the board. The butcher then proceeds to shift a couple of notices which had been pinned half over his own. With that done, Valentin turns towards the door, wiping his hands on his apron. The butcher takes a moment to examine the large newcomer. A lot of meat on that one, to be sure.
Mihael whispered something to Ehli.
Mihael lycan leans back after whispering to Ehli. Taking a small note of the scent in the air he looks down to find that the herbs within his pipe had gone out. Reaching into his sack, he pulls out more herbs and packs himself a bowl. He snaps his fingers sparking a flame over the herbs and ignites the weed in doing so.
Ehli whispered something to Mihael.
Mihael shakes his head at Ehli's words, before he takes a nice long puff, he continues to inhale and exhale afterwards, but no smoke exits the helmet surrounding his head.
Zaxx is mildly aware of the butcher from his preliminary once over, yet as he is situated with back to message board he is oblivious to Valentin's return examination. The Preklek props the stiff mouthpiece of his pipe between some jagged teeth as he strikes a bit of flint over his wick and fuel lighter and lets it burn for a second before bringing the flame near to his face and lighting just the very edge of his pipe's contents. It is just as he manages to get the thing rolling merrily that a man across the room accomplishes the same feet with a mere flick of the fingers, and Zaxx can't help but scowl. Such gifts were wasted on these pathetic little simians, or so he thinks as a thick cloud of heavy smoke rolls past his lips. "Oi! You should get a room for your lady friend before someone steals her from you." he calls to the pair of whispering lovebirds across the room as Nancy draws up along his table and before she can ask what he would like the swoll hunter dictates in an authoritative tone. "Meat, the best you have, pink in the middle, burnt on the outside. Mead." Through the whole exchange he barely looks up at her, instead puffing again on his pipe before craning around as the feeling of eyes on his back finally irritates him into action, and his eyes would meet Valentin's in that moment. "Don't you think? Dangerous place this is for a pretty lady with such a scrawny companion."
Mihael whispered something to Ehli.
Ehli whispered something to Mihael.
Zaxx yells at the pair. "Yea, that's right. Keep ignoring me." and then grumbles to himself.
Mihael lets out a sigh before placing the pipe between the small slit in the helmet. The strange hermit takes a puff and smiles beneath the helmet as he mutters to himself about the random thoughts he sometimes is overcome with. "You young feline are quite an odd one. Have you ever been told that?" he asks Ehli. His head perks slightly at the mention of food though he manages to control himself and keep his composure. "Steals her from me?" he says, obviously the statement was meant for Zaxx. "How can you steal that which does not belong to me?" the lycan turns slightly to look over his shoulder, only a bright glowing orb is seen beneath the helmet. "You are also an odd one young one."
Ehli simply sat down, waiting...
Valentin maintains eye contact impassively as he responds to the Preklek with a grunt "S'pose so, guv. Then again, it ain't no nevermind t'me if folks sit whisperin' sweet nothin's to each other." The butcher rubs the stubble on his jawline "Mind you, poor choice of location for romance, innit. A bleedin' tavern of all places. Folks these days." With that pronouncement, the dour butcher seemed to have said his piece on the topic at hand, wandering up to the bar to indulge an uncharacteristic moment of curiosity "An' what does a large sod like y'self do for a trade, guv."
Zaxx scoffs. "Same way I steal anything I want." but he doesn't elaborate much further, instead making a rude gesture before he swivels his chair to face the bar and that mutton chopped man. "I track things down and kill 'em. If it moves, I can kill it. Of course I can bring most things in alive as well should it be required by the contract, but there's not much fun in it." his words are breathed out amid another cloud of smoke that floats all the way to the bar, causing Nancy to cough slightly as she walks through it on her way to the kitchens.
Mihael looks up at the cieling letting out a sigh, "You sound alot like I used to in the past. Back when I was young and foolish." He turns to face Ehli, "So, where were we feline?" he asks the woman before him, no longer concerning himself with the rude man and simply enjoys his smoke.
Valentin scratches a shaggy muttonchop idly "Bounty hunter, is it? Well, plenty o'work around for that kind o'thing I s'pose guv." His moment of curiosity sated, the butcher glances towards the tavern's entrance, man's intention to continue on his way apparent.
Ehli whispered something to Mihael.
Bella dances.
Zaxx notes the butcher's intention to leave, not caring much one way or the other. But he was intent on getting at least one question answered before he does so. "And what about yourself then? You a barber or something of the like?" but almost immediately after the words leave his throat he catches that snide comment from Mihael and his head snaps around. "Best watch who you're calling foolish, monkey! Maybe I should be breaking your spine and ripping your teeth out."
Valentin casts the lizardman a dour look, and waits until the Preklek has finished his tirade before responding "Close, guv, but the word you're lookin' for is butcher. If you want t'know more, then y'can read me advertisement on th'board back there" The butcher jerks his thumb towards the messageboard "An' if you do happen to kill somethin' with a bit o'meat attached, well, I'm a buyer. A butcher can never have too many suppliers, innit. The more unusual the meat, the better the price." Valentin tips his hat politely, and steps away to allow space should the bar erupt into another brawl.
Mihael lets out another sigh, turning toward Zaxx once more. "Believe me when I say that there is no amount of pain that you could cause me that I have not already felt before. So keep your remarks to yourself please." the hermit takes another puff of his pipe. "Enjoy your food and drink. I on the otherhand shall do what I always do." He pauses for a moment. "I shall smoke and ponder random thoughts on everything and yet nothing. So you will have to excuse me if our conversation ends here young one." the lycan hermit says. Looking at Ehli he smiles though it is not seen. "Perhaps. Perhaps not. Depends on how I feel little one."
Ehli felt alittle disappointed, she did appear hopeful at first, but when the man spoke, it simply weakened her will, slumping herself upon her chair, curling up alittle, glancing at the man once in a while.
Mihael chuckles, "Aww...is someone a sad little kitty?" he asks Ehli
Zaxx turns back to Valentin as he waits for Mihael to come up with a lame excuse for his cowardice. "A butcher, huh?" he asks without really meaning it as a question and pulls himself up out of that chair which almost seems to sigh in relief at having his weight removed. The Preklek hefts the heavy sack he'd brought with him from the floor one-handed and carries it with him as he approaches the bar, untying a bit of leather chord which was keeping it sealed on the way. "It's been a slow night." He begins, opening the sack and reaching his opposite hand inside "But I did happen upon this." he finishes, pulling a furry corpse out of the burlap that is for a moment completely unidentifiable. Yet as he holds it up to just above his chest level further study would identify it as a half transformed Lycan, its digitigrade legs snapped at the ankles and a half inch hole bored into its face, blood and vitreous fluid leaking from a punctured eye. "Only a young one, but well fed enough. Some farmers in Milous were having a bit of trouble with it snagging their goats, so I took care of it. Care to make an offer on the corpse? I already got my pay, so i've little use for it save the hide." Now that there was potential business to be discussed, Zaxx was willing to let Mihael's patronization slide... for a moment, yet his comment goes not unheard, and already a plan for further profit is being formulated. "And how about them two?" he shoves the thumb connected to his bag-bearing hand behind him to indicate Mihael and Ehli.
Ehli whispered something to Mihael.
Mihael whispered something to Ehli.
Ehli whispered something to Mihael.
Mihael offers a glance at Zaxx but says nothing. The old man has already grown bored of speaking with the bounty hunter.
Mihael whispered something to Ehli.
Valentin steps back over to examine the carcass with a critical eye "Still fresh. Good. I got buyers for this kind o'thing, an' procurement's a right hassle at times. I'll give you a hundred gold for it." The butcher casts an impassive glance around the tavern. "As to other carcasses, it all depends on how the killin's been done. Too much damage to th'bodies, an' that affects what kind o'cuts I can get out of 'em. I mean, it don't matter too much when it comes to sausages, but for chops an' steaks y'want decent undamaged cuts o'meat." Valentin scratches a shaggy muttonchop and nods at the package "So, a hundred on account of its rarity, even though there ain't a lot o'meat on it."
Ehli whispered something to Mihael.
Mihael whispered something to Ehli.
Zaxx tsks, his voice taking on a very serpentine quality for a moment before resuming it's normal deep tone. "The pelt alone is worth at least fifty, seventy five if you treat it proper. And the meat's a rarity, so you say. Make it two hundred pieces and you've got a deal."
Ehli whispered something to Mihael.
Mihael whispered something to Ehli.
Valentin grunts, a lively glint appearing in the meat merchant's eye "Two hundred, y'reckon, for the flesh an' the pelt?" The butcher seems to consider the offer a moment "Well, I got no use for the pelt, guv. If y'reckon it's that valuable, you can keep it. Seventy five for the pelt, eh? So for th'meat alone I'll give you a hundred an' a quarter hundred."
Ehli whispered something to Mihael.
Mihael nods "Sure." he says before he takes a final hit from his piece, the remaining embers go out before he places the pipe away.
Zaxx locks the butcher with a dead eyed stare in an attempt to read whether this was the final price break, or if he could push it further. He draws a slow breath in contemplation, hefting the slain creature a little higher and eying it with an evaluative glance. "I assume you've got a better set of tools for cleaning and skinning than I do, given your trade..." he trails off for a moment, picking his words real careful as he proposes a compromise. "One-twenty five then, on the condition you skin the beast and clean the pelt for me."
Ehli whispered something to Mihael.
Mihael whispered something to Ehli.
Ehli whispered something to Mihael.
Valentin casts the Preklek a dour look. "I'll skin th'beast, but my time an' effort is worth good coin. It'll be one hundred twenty-five, and you can prepare th'damn pelt y'self. Do I look like a blimmin' tanner?" The butcher narrows his eyes, decides that he had better answer the rhetorical question in case the Preklek misinterpreted it as an actual enquiry "The answer to that is 'No. I look like a bleedin' butcher, not a blimmin' tanner." Valentin jerks his thumb at the door "M'tools are in th'meatcart. Follow me, an' bring th'carcass, innit. At that price I'll even let y'keep the head an' brain matter so's you can tan th'pelt properlike."
Mihael whispered something to Ehli.
Ehli whispered something to Mihael.
Mihael whispered something to Ehli.
Things get a little tense
Tanya sighs as she enters the tavern the events of earlier in the day replaying in her mind. The vampriss lets her crimson hues dance from person to person looking for anyone familar before she makes her way to the board and thumbs through some messages non of which grab her attention. With another sigh she heads to the bar and grins at Mesthak as she orders her normal drink of choice. She turns around and glances once more around the establishment as she waits on her drink.
Zaxx tenses rigid for a moment, a swell of rage flashing in his eyes for a moment as the butcher responds. "Watch your words, butcher. I'm not one to be cursing at." and though his warning is spoken cooly, civilly, there is a moment where sudden violence seems a definite possibility. "But your terms are acceptable." The Preklek shoves his kill back in the burlap sack and swings it over his shoulder as he takes a quick detour to the slightly ajar kitchen door before following Valentin out. "Wrap my food up to go, if you would, and bring it out front once it's ready. I'll tip you fair for the work." he announces loudly into the backroom, and then makes for the exit, his head swinging toward Mihael and Ehli as he goes. "And don't think I've forgotten about you." He barks to the Lycan. "I'll be seeing you soon." with that, Zaxx pushes his way outside to find the rain no more than a slowly abating drizzle.
Zaxx bumps tanya hard with his shoulder as he passes her on his way to the front door.
Zaxx said to Tanya, "Watch it, girlie."
Valentin gives the Preklek another dour look as the hunter makes his threats "Touchy bastard, ain't you, guv. But if you've a mind for unprovoked violence, I'm ready to meet you at any time an' place. Not all my meat comes from suppliers, innit." The butcher's gaze is level as he continues "Now, if we're done measurin' the lengths of our manhoods, can we get down t'business? I ain't got all day t'waste on a single scrawny carcass. I got a couple o'Lycan corpses waitin' for me in Frostmaw along with a dozen other carcasses."
Ehli exits south.
Mihael exits south.
Tanya scoffs at Zaxx as he bumps into her " why dont you watch it."
Zaxx halts rather suddenly, one hand holding his corpse filled sack, the other holding the door open. He could have easily let the comment slide, could have just walked out and gone on with his business, but Zaxx had grown ever so tired of the simian inhabitants of this land and their bad habit of talking back to their betters. "You know what, you're right. I'm sorry." he begins, feigning sincerity in his apologetic tone. "Let me make it up to you." he continues, sticking his foot out to catch the door and hold it open as he reaches into a little leather bag at his hip. After a moment of rummaging he produces a rather plain looking, fist sized ball of metal, with a tiny little knob sticking out of one end. "This is quite a rarity in these lands. One of the last I was able to acquire from a good friend of mine. Here... I think you'll find it rather interesting." He smiles genuinely, and tosses the little ball to Tanya after a nonchalant squeeze which pushes that knob down inside the thing.
Tanya quirks and eyebrow at the man as he tosses the little ball at her. The vampriss catches it and looks at it slightly before she sets it down on the bar next to her. The vampriss smirks slightly before she turns to mesthak and grins sweetly at him sicnehe had just brought her the drink she had ordered.
Valentin had been heading towards the exit in the Preklek's wake, already wary. When the Preklek tosses the device to Tanya, the butcher summons his talent for the Hidden Whispers, and a quiet sussuration of sibilant verses writhe in the air around Valentin's vicinity. Shadows lengthen and dance around the muttonchopped man as the Scleratus of the Necromancer's guild prepares himself for trouble.
Zaxx leaps out through the door the moment that Tanya has caught his little iron ball, and this should be her second clue that something terrible is about to happen to her. The first being the fact that Zaxx is involved at all. The ball itself is of a relatively simple construction, iron filled with water and a small crystal vial attached to that knob. Yet the rarity of the device lies not within the construction, but the silvery substance contained within the vial. Loda's blood, as it is known to the Dwarven folk who first discovered it has been known of for centuries now in Craughmoyle. Yet it is not until the recent efforts of a terramancer who became curious about it's nature after hearing rumors within the mines, that the substance was able to be extracted in any sort of usable form. What we know as an alkali metal, Rubidium, Loda's blood is more common than copper within the earth. Yet it's unstable nature and the difficulty of extraction by any natural means makes it one of the rarest metals in hollow... unless you know the right person. The second that knob was pushed down, the crystal vile was shattered, and the reaction was now irreversible. Within seconds the pressure inside that iron orb would build to an immense level, and before Tanya would be able to put it down as she intended.... -Bang-! Shards of iron shrapnel fly in all directions, followed by the water within, turned caustic by it's reaction with the powerful material. Not only would Tanya likely lose all her fingers if not most of her hand, but the shards of iron would tear viciously through her flesh if not avoided, which at that range, with that level of energy expansion, would be damn near impossible. And then, as if all this were not enough, the liquid inside will eat it's way through anything it touches like acid, and continue to burn until neutralized chemically, meaning that water would do nothing to save Tanya's flesh.
Tanya screams slightly as the ball explodes in her hand. The vampriss drops everything she had been holding as she comes off the bar stool. Her eyes narrow into a slit as he hand drips blood on the floor. " What the" is all the vampriss mutters before she is sprayed with the liquid slightly. Tanya groans and moves away form the assulting ball.
Valentin || The moment the Preklek dived out the door, Valentin took that as his cue to finalise the cantatus of shadowshifting. With the sound of his psionic incantations rasping into a crescendo, the butcher becomes an incorporeal thing of inky shadows. However, as shrapnel flickers through his essence the butcher still feels a passing discomfort, and growls in anger.
Valentin takes a moment to examine the damage done by the Preklek's device before the shadowy butcher follows Zaxx out into Kelay Way to finalise purchase of the Lycan carcass
Sophie the Healer in the right place at the right time
Tanya slumps against the wall and groans at her injuries muttering to herself at how many injuries can she take in one day.
Sophie the healer recognises the smell of some caustic substance, she even risks dipping a finger in it to be sure of her identification of the class or irritant, acid or alkaline. Sure enough, it feels soapy, a sure sign of an alkali. The master healer grabs the jar of pickled eggs from the bar and throws all the vinegar eggs and all over Tanya, dipping her contaminated finger in a little that is spilled as an afterthought. "Mesthak, get me more vinegar, now!" The skilled potions brewer, suspects she may need more of the strong acid to completelyneutralise such a strong alkali.
Sophie explains, "The vinegar will stop the substance that is all over you from being able to do any more damage to your skin, render it harmless when it reacts with it. The healer now pours even more vinegar, when Mesthak brings it, over her patient, reasoning that too much vinegar will do Tanya little harm, whereas too little might leave her still being damaged by the corrosive stuff expelled from the little bomb. Eventually, she is convinced that Tanya is well and truly sufficiently pickled. Were her patient not a vampire, Sophie could channel healing energy into the woman's wounds, a more usual form of druidic healing than the pickled egg cure. As the situation is she must content herself with cleaning and bandaging the wounds.
Tanya smiles gently at sophie as she watches her bandage her wounded hand " ahh now that I smell like a pickle thank you."
Sophie finishes off the neat bandaging, securing it with a safety pin and smiles. "You do indeed smell like a pickle, all part of the complete service from Sophie the healer."
Meanwhile, outside, a bargain is concluded
Valentin glides out of the tavern, a shadowy replica of his corporeal self. The butcher's voice manifests as an ethereal echo around the Preklek "That, guv, was a blimmin' nuisance. You better not have gotten any holes in th'carcass, or we'll have to re-negotiate th'price."
Zaxx comes down into a hard roll over his shoulder and throws himself flat on the dirt, miraculously saved from the shrapnel of his little bomb by the quickness of his escape, and the sudden appearance of walls and a door between him and it when it went off. All he could assume without going back in to check was that Tanya was now in intense pain, and likely crippled, or at least that would seem to be the case from her screams. "Stupid wench." he grumbles loudly as he picks himself up from the ground and then chuckles, wiping the dirt and dust from his cloak. "So, where's this cart of yours?" he says to Valentin, choosing not to mention the Scleratus' shadow stepping, instead thinking silently of ways to defeat it should the need ever arise.
Zaxx finds himself cut off however, berated for what he personally thought was right hilarious. "Easy there, butcher. The body's still in prime condition." he responds, picking up the burlap sack from where he'd flung it during the roll. He failed to mention that he might have rolled on it slightly, but it would be in just as good of condition as before anyway.
Valentin grumbles "It's right there, guv." And so it was. The meatcart was essentially a pony-drawn wagon with a large metal box replacing the open-topped tray typical to such conveyances. 'Valentin's Butcher Shop and Charcuterie' was etched on both sides of the meatcart. Another sequence of ethereal canta play through the air and Valentin takes corporeal form once more, although the sussurations continue, and shadowy tentacles remain writhing around the necromantic butcher. Valentin opens a small panel on the side of the meatcart and retrieves a skinning knife from a kniferack found within. "A'right guv. Bring out th'carcass, an' I'll get busy"
Zaxx crosses the distance between himself and the cart in no more than three massive strides, pulling his kill from it's containment vessel, fancy word for sack, and swings it unceremoniously up and onto the butcher's 'operating table' with a dull sort of thwap, the sound meat makes when you hit it with your fist. "The meat's all yours."
Valentin directs the shadowy tentacles to wrap around the hind legs of the lycan carcass, holding it aloft so that Valentin can begin the sequence of shallow, sawing cuts from top to bottom which would serve to free the pelt from the surface fat and joints until, eventually, the Lycan's pelt could be carefully peeled off, ears and all. When finished, Valentin presents Zaxx with the pelt. The butcher then draws his oversized cleaver, turns, and with a shadowy tentacle wrapped around the Lycan skull to provide tension, severs the Lycan head from its carcass with a precise cut. Valentin then presents Zaxx with the skull "You'll be needin' the brainbits t'tan the pelt all proper, innit. Oh, an' here's th'gold". Valentin counts coins out and hands them to the Preklek. "Always a pleasure doin' business, guv." A shadow tentacle then opens the meatcart's back door as another hoists the skinned carcass in. Zaxx would briefly see a sequence of red runes, sigils, and other markings lining the inner walls of the cart. Valentin would then get on the driver's seat and tip his hat to the Preklek as he heads off.